What to do when your dog goes to the toilet in the wrong place

As you may know we have a new puppy here at Woof House. Lyric is doing everything she can to be a wonderful addition to our family, but is also reminding us off all the little problems which can arise.

We originally were going to write about house training, but as that is a widely talked about topic we thought we would answer a question which is on a similar topic, what to do when your house trained dog goes to the toilet in the wrong place.

Imagine the scenario: it’s 6 o’clock, you’ve had a long day, and when you finally slip your shoes off and walk into the house you are confronted with… a little present from your furry family member.

This scenario has likely happened to you before, it has definitely happened to us, and it is very frustrating. However most people we’ve spoken to react in the wrong way when it comes to preventing their pet from doing it again. We find most people either shrug it off and believe nothing can be done; insist on rubbing their pets noses in their ‘accident’, which is one of the worst things to do.

To start with it should be said that unless you actually catch your pet in the act, it is pointless to try and train them out of the habit; as they won’t understand or make the connection between their excrement and the desired outcome. This is where people fall down when they rub their pets noses in their mess, as the dog doesn’t know why this unpleasant thing is happening to them, they are more likely to grow to fear or resent you than learn the lesson.

However things can be done. It is easier with puppies as they are still learning and it is good to have some boundaries in your head of what is acceptable and what isn’t. We lay newspaper out in an area where they can relieve themselves, which gets moved closer and closer to the door as time goes on. If they do their business on their paper, we praise them if we see it, and don’t get frustrated if we don’t. It may not have been outside, but it is on the allowed area.

If we catch them doing it somewhere other than the newspaper, we will not let them be near it as we clean it up, and growl at them if they try to come near, as their mother would do with other unacceptable behaviour.

We don’t clean up any mess on a newspaper too quickly either. This is so the newspaper is scented, and they learn where to do their business quickly. In some cases keeping a piece of newspaper which was urinated on and has dried can be useful to let them know where is an acceptable place to do their business.

Adult dogs are a bit more tricky, as there are multiple reasons why they may be urinating or defecating inside. There tend to be issues around animals which have been re-homed, or moved home but it is important to bear in mind it is unlikely to be a house training issue. It could be stress related, concern over there being a lack of a pack leader or simply scenting the area. We offer free advice to anyone interested, so if your adult dog keeps on leaving your ‘presents’ get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

As usual, if you have any questions or topics you want us to answer get in contact and we’ll be happy to help.

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